I want to thank Chris M Johnson again for suggesting Music Alerts to me. It does what it needs to, it gives you album release date notifications through an RSS feed, and although it works just fine there are still some issues with it.

The biggest problem with Music Alerts is it’s input method. They give you a text box to list your bands seperated by commas. But, once you input the bands there is no way to be sure that the bands were typed in correctly and there is no way of knowing that they were recognized. One of the bands I listed, “Callahan,” was instead recognized as an artist named “Bill Callahan,” not exactly what I was looking for.

Which brings me to the next problem with Music Alerts, you can’t remove bands from your feed. The only solution they have for removing a band from your feed is to copy the description tag from your old feed (which contains all of your listed artists), remove the artist you no longer wants updates for, and paste it on Music Alerts’ website to make a new feed. You can add bands to your feed but not being able to remove them is a real bummer.

The last suggestion I have is iTunes Genius style recommendations for bands that a user might be interested in, this isn’t a necessity, just icing on the cake.

Music Alerts is still better than nothing. But, I hope that they will either improve or another service becomes available that has all of the features I’m looking for.

Previously:
4/14/09: Things I Need: Album Release Dates via RSS

Ambrosia Software may have to compete with Apple in the screen recording space. In recent betas of Snow Leopard the QuickTime X Player has had a “Screen recording” option added to its File menu.

The QuickTime X implementation of screen recording will function similar to other screen recording applications. When the option is chosen a prompt will appear on screen asking you to start the recording. When the recording begins the prompt disappears and a small menu bar icon will appear, clicking on it will let you end the recording.

Apple has the habit of killing third party applications with new features in operating system releases. This of course worries me, I don’t want to see another Virtual Desktop and Spaces situation. I like third party developers and I want them to continue development but once Apple brings similar functionality into their OS the ability for the developer to justify further support of the app just simply isn’t there, and the sales disappear too. Ambrosia Software has a lot of other applications in their arsenal but how many small developers need to be put out of business because Apple decides to add some unique functionality to their operating system?

AppleInsider | Snow Leopard to offer screen recording via QuickTime X Player.
Image credit to feber.se.

Update 5/20/09: Mac Magazine Posts Images of Snow Leopard

Update 6/10/09: Apple officially announced QuickTime X at the WWDC keynote, but screen recording was not part of that announcement. We still have a few months before it gets released so it is still a possibility.

Update 7/2/09: Dock Expose and QuickTime X Screenshots

Update 7/15/09: Slight Changes in Snow Leopard 10A402

Update 7/25/09: Snow Leopard Build 10A421a

Update 8/2/09: Pre-Order Snow Leopard From Amazon

Update 8/24/09: Snow Leopard Officially Coming August 28

All of those upset HD-DVD owners that chose the wrong format now have a shoulder to cry on. Although that shoulder will cost them $11.90 per disc it is still cheaper than buying new media at Wal-Mart.

Warner Bros. is now allowing HD-DVD owners to send in their Warner Bros. HD-DVD titles and they will send back Blu-ray copies of those movies. The cost is just $4.95 per title plus $6.95 shipping and handling.

The whole process from sending them in to receiving your new Blu-ray discs takes about a month but I’m sure many early adopters would rather wait a month than have obsolete discs.

This is the first program of its kind and I would like to see similar programs crop up with other movie studios. But, then again, I guess I don’t understand why everyone is unwilling to just buy an Apple TV and make it easier on themselves.

Downloads are so much easier than discs.

Red2Blu – Upgrade Your Warner Bros. HD-DVDs for New Blu-Ray Discs.

USA Today reports that Apple is in talks with Verizon to bring the iPhone to their network in 2010. This would contradict the “5 year exclusivity agreement” that everyone always claims to exist between Apple and AT&T. But, as many forget, the idea that it was a 5 year agreement came from an analyst prediction and not from either AT&T or Apple, meaning its validity was questionable from the get go.

If this report is indeed true (and it appears to be) the customers would be the real winners. AT&T wouldn’t be able to sit on their butts anymore, surely the simple fact that two cell carriers would have the iPhone would force both of them to compete and ultimately drive prices down.

I urge everyone to remember that this news doesn’t claim that Apple is actually going to release the iPhone for Verizon. It simply states that Apple and Verizon are in talks, but whether or not the iPhone will be released for Verizon is yet to be determined.

Apple and Verizon consider iPhone deal – USATODAY.com.

Update 5/27/09: Verizon Sources Claim iPhone is Coming Soon

Update 7/25/09: Apple Tablet May Come in Early 2010

Update 8/13/09: Brian Lam Talks to Insider About Apple Tablet

Update 8/24/09: Steve Jobs Has Been Focusing on the Tablet

Update 9/17/09: Another Report on the Apple Tablet

Update 12/28/09: Apple Tablet May be Announced in January

I’ve dropped Twitterrific like a hot potato and am using Tweetie full time now as my Twitter client of choice. The app is clearly better but it does have its flaws.

• I would like to be able to remove the Tweetie icon from the dock. The menu bar icon is good enough for me.
• Why can’t I hide my avatar in the sidebar? This feature is probably useful for those with multiple accounts but is just clutter if you only have one account.
• There isn’t a favorited items view. And, along those lines, why do I have to right-click to favorite a tweet?
• There aren’t any notification sounds.

Tweetie is still better than Twitterrific but it would be (nearly) perfect if the above flaws were addressed.

Previously:
4/17/09: atebits Announces Tweetie for Mac

Rumor has it that Apple has advised their authorized resellers to begin putting both the Apple Composite AV Cable and the Apple Component AV Cable on clearance. PhoneNews.com claims to have sources saying that Apple will be consolidating these cables soon.

The upcoming cable is known only as the “Apple AV Cable” and will function similar to the Xbox 360 Component AV Cable, that is, it will support both component and composite output through the same set of cables. One of the major complaints of the current cables is that you would have to purchase both the component and composite versions if you wanted to connect your iPod or iPhone to an HDTV and a SDTV (forcing you to spend nearly $100), this is precisely why I haven’t purchased either one of the cables yet.

PhoneNews.com also claims that the next generation iPhone will be capable of playing back HD video with 720p and 1080i output modes.

So far PhoneNews.com’s rumors all seem plausible but then they move into crazy Apple rumors territory by claiming that the next generation iPhone and iPod touch will be able to playback video from sources over the Wi-Fi network using Bonjour to find video content on other computers. They also claim that the iPhone and iPod touch will offer a 10 foot interface, similar to that of the Apple TV.

Personally I would love to 10 foot interface on an iPhone or iPod touch but I just don’t see it happening. Apple has had the opportunity to do this for so long and still hasn’t. since the 5th generation iPod users have been begging for a 10 foot interface, why would Apple do it now? The Apple TV does what those users want to be able to do and it is a fair price, if users are really interested in purchasing content through iTunes and watching it on their HDTV they will buy the Apple TV. The current functionality of the video output on iPods and iPhones is good enough and I don’t see Apple complicating things by adding a user interface that would be displayed through your TV.

Apple Consolidating AV Cables Ahead of iPhone HD Launch | PhoneNews.com.

Update 7/30/09: It has been over a month since the iPhone 3GS launch and not only does this new iPhone not support HD video, Apple also hasn’t consolidated their AV cable offerings.

I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about Twitter becoming as useless as MySpace, or the worry that it might. The problem with every other social network in the past is that once the non-tech savvy start to show up the usefulness of the service seems to drop (I’m sorry but this has just been my personal experience), there just becomes too much noise and trying to find useful information becomes very difficult.

But, the difference with Twitter is that you only see people you choose to see. John Gruber (@gruber) put it perfectly:

The genius of Twitter: you pick who you follow, so every illiterate in the world can join (and they are) and it doesn’t change your stream.

The current cause for concern amongst the people I know is that all of Oprah’s fans are going to ruin Twitter. But, how can that affect you unless you follow those people, even if people you follow start to make mentions of uninteresting users you can always just unfollow them.

Twitter really is the kind of service where it can be useful or completely useless, it is all up to you. As long as you follow interesting people you will only see interesting tweets.

So the short answer, no, Twitter won’t become as useless as MySpace.

Regarding Asustek and Garmin’s smartphones:

a source with direct knowledge of the project, speaking on condition his name not be used because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the plan was to begin shipping the first LiMo phones in June

Although Reuters doesn’t mention the source by name, this is Reuters, so for better or worse you should probably trust them.

It has taken two announcements and a year and a half but it now appears we have a release time frame (other than “soon”) for the Nuvifone G60.

Taiwan’s Asustek to use Linux in new smartphone | Markets | Markets News | Reuters.

Update 6/20/09: Garmin-Asus launches nuvifone G60 and M20 at CommunicAsia 2009 – VR-Zone.com: News and Reviews

Update 7/25/09: Garmin-Asus nüvifone™ Available for Purchase in Asia

Update 8/7/09: TWICE is reporting that the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 is “on track to launch in the U.S. in the fourth quarter”.

Update 10/3/09: AT&T and Garmin have announced in a press release that the Nuvifone G60 will be available for AT&T on October 4 for $299.

Update 10/7/09: Garmin Nuvifone G60

Airfoil is an amazing application by Rogue Amoeba, it allows you to send audio to AirPort speakers from any application you wish. I’ve been using Airfoil ever since I purchased my AirPort Express, but have been dreaming of a day when I could send audio from Airfoil to my iPhone. You see, Rogue Amoeba also makes an application called Airfoil Speakers that allows you to use that as a destination for audio through Airfoil, just install Airfoil speakers on a computer within the same network and it becomes an destination for audio from Airfoil.

Airfoil Speakers has been available for Windows, Mac, and Linux but now Airfoil Speakers is available for the iPhone and iPod touch as well. I haven’t spent too much time with the app but I already know that I love it.

It is a very simple app, all the control you really have access to is volume. All of the audio source control is on the computer that is sending the audio.

What is really great about this app is that I can now open up Twit Live in Firefox and send the audio to my Apple TV, my AirPort Express, my iPhone connected to a speaker dock, and still play the audio through my computer. This is whole home audio at its finest.

Airfoil Speakers Touch is available now and is completely free. You do need Airfoil for the Mac or Windows (available for $25) to use Airfoil Speakers Touch but if you are at all interested in whole home audio you probably already own the app.

Under The Microscope » Blog Archive » Introducing Airfoil Speakers Touch.

In the most recent episode of MacBreak Weekly (episode 136: EULA Schmeula) Andy Ihnatko, regarding the Palm Pre, said this:

The mac isn’t a home run in terms of commercial appeal, and yet it can do very very well with 8 or 9% of the market. The Pre doesn’t have to beat the entire smartphone market, they don’t have to beat the iPhone, they don’t have to beat the blackberry. All they have to do is establish credibility and that they have a platform that is going to last at least 2 more years. I think that their goal for this launch should be to get people to think twice about switching to an iPhone or switching to a BlackBerry, so long as they are a part of the decision matrix, they get a win.

Wrong. Unfortunately Palm doesn’t have the luxury of being able to treat the Pre this way, they need it to sell, fairly well, or Palm might be over. When we are talking about a company (Palm) that has steadily been losing market share over the past few years they really need a true winner. Just because Palm is in the decision matrix doesn’t mean they win, even if they are involved in someones decision making process for purchasing a smartphone, Palm doesn’t win unless someone actually buys the handset.

Palm’s goal shouldn’t just be to get people to think twice before buying a smartphone. Why would anyone want to buy a cell phone from a company with that kind of goal? Especially when there are cell phone companies out there whose goal it is to make the best phone available.

I’m not saying the Palm Pre has to sell gang busters, I’m more or less asserting that Ihnatko’s idea of what Palm’s goal should be, is obviously wrong. The Mac has proved that a company can exist with a relatively small market share. But, Apple is one of those companies that wants to make the best device available, Palm needs to want that too.

It appears to me that Palm thinks they have a home run on their hands, but I’m hoping that they want this to be the best cell phone available, even if that is true just for the people that buy it. Macintosh computers are where they are today because the people who use them, love them, Palm needs to gain that type of customer loyalty with the Pre, they at least need to strive for that, otherwise I don’t know how they could ever pull themselves out the this hole.

Update 6/4/09: Reviews have started to be released for the Palm Pre. So far I’ve found reviews by the following writers: Walt Mossberg, Joshua Topolsky, David Pogue, Jason Chen, Bonnie Cha, Steven Levy.